Iran's Powerful Revolutionary Guard Chief Comes Under Fire

By Golnaz Esfandiari, RFE/RL

Who is damaging the Islamic republic? This question
pits two increasingly irreconcilable camps against each other as the debate
continues to heat up in Tehran. To hard-liners, the answer is clear: it is the
reformists, who are accused of plotting a "velvet coup." To reformists, it is
the hard-liners themselves, whose actions undermine the very system they seek to
preserve.

Is Revolutionary Guard chief General Mohammad Ali Jafari showing
Ahmadinejad and the hard-liners the way?

Now, hard-line President Mahmud Ahmadinejad,
whose fraud-tainted reelection led to massive street protests and widened the
gulf between the two sides, reiterated his call for opposition leaders to be put
on trial for directing the postelection unrest.

"Those who led the [unrest] and planned it, those who accepted the support of
the enemy" should be prosecuted, Ahmadinejad said at a press conference with
Iranian and foreign media.

"The least was that they didn't react and by their silence they accepted the
support of the enemy and they tried to strike a blow."

Concern has grown that key figures who are seen as the leaders of the opposition
movement could be arrested. They include former President Mohammad Khatami,
presidential candidates Mir Hossein Musavi and Mehdi Karrubi, and the head of
the Assembly of Experts, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

This concern has grown following recent comments by the head of the powerful
Islamic Revolution Guard Corps, Mohammad Ali Jafari.

Jafari said on September 2 that senior reformist figures encouraged the massive
street protests following the June 12 presidential vote and tried to undermine
the authority of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who holds ultimate of power in the
Islamic republic.

The Revolutionary Guard played a key role in the postelection crackdown that
left a number of dead and many injured. Officials say some 30 people were
killed, but according to the opposition 72 people died in the violence.

'Military Interference'

But some reformists are hitting back at Jafari.

One of the strongest criticisms has come from a lawmaker, Hossein Hashemian, the
head of the Imam faction in the Iranian parliament, who said on September 6 that
Jafari has become too proud of his military rank.

Hashemian said Jafari should be prosecuted for his comments, which he said go
against the views of the founder of the Islamic republic Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini. Hashemian said Khomeini was against the interference of the military
in politics.

Does Supreme Leader Khamenei (right) back Jafari?

Jafari, in his statement, cited some of the
"confessions" by reformists who are currently on trial over the postelection
unrest. He said the goal of what he called the postelection "riots" was to bring
a change in the direction of the Islamic republic and bring about a "deviation
from principles."

Hashemian said Jafari has labeled figures who have held top posts in the Islamic
establishment and served the system for the past 30 years as potential foes of
the Islamic state.

Hashemian told the website "Parlemannews" that Jafari's comments could be
interpreted as an attempt to destroy Khomeini's legacy. He added that Jafari, as
a military figure, didn't have the right to interfere in politics.

Going To Court

Two reformist political parties, the Islamic Iran Participation Front and the
Militant Clerics Association, have also blasted Jafari over his comments and
said that he should be charged.

U.S.-based political activist Mohsen Sazgara tells RFE/RL's Radio Farda that the
demand for Jafari's prosecution is a positive political move by the reformists,
even though it might not lead anywhere.

"Iran's judiciary is not independent and big parts of it are influenced by the
security forces and it's likely that they will never investigate such a
complaint, but bringing it up has a positive political effect," says Sazgara
says, one of the founders of the Revolutionary Guard.

"This should also be among the people's long list of demands from the
judiciary."

The Militant Clerics Association said it had decided to file a legal compliant
against Jafari for spreading lies and leveling accusations against some of its
members.

The Participation Front, some of whose key members are on trial over the
postelection unrest, said that Jafari's comments could open room for more action
against reformist leaders. The party said that Jafari's comments and his access
to forced confessions by reformists could be a confirmation of the Revolutionary
Guard's role in the June vote and reformists' allegations that a coup has taken
place.

The party says the judiciary should prove its independence by bringing one of
its own to court -- for the first time.

Opposition Continues

Mohammad Khatami has decried military "interference" in politics.

Former President Khatami, who is one of the
figures named by Jafari, hit back on September 6, accusing the hard-liners of
taking a "fascist" approach. He said the hard-liners destroyed "the biggest
opportunity" that has come along for Iran and the Islamic establishment in the
June 12 vote.

Khatami was scheduled to speak this week at
Khomeini's tomb at a religious ceremony, but the annual event was cancelled in
what seems to be an attempt by hard-liners to prevent the speech from being
turned into an opposition rally against the reelection of Ahmadinejad.

The disputed election has plunged the Islamic republic into the worst crisis in
its 30-year history. And three months after the vote, the crisis is far from
over.

The rift between the hardliners and the reformists seem to be deepening as the
two sides accuse each other of drifting away from revolutionary values and
damaging the Islamic republic.

For now, power is in the hands of the hard-liners, who have arrested a number of
senior reformist figures and put them on trial in an exercise dismissed by
reformists as a parody of justice.

Despite the growing pressure, opposition members seem determined to keep
challenging the hard-liners.

Musavi on September 5 urged his supporters to continue their protests -- big and
small -- against the results of the presidential vote, which he says was
fraudulent.

He also called for "preventing military men from interfering in politics and
financial activities," and said that those who abused postelection detainees
should be punished.

Opposition members are planning to protest on September 18 during the annual "Quds
Day," when state-organized anti-Israel demonstrations usually take place.